By Drago Bosnic
In 2023, the United States started a series of “temporary” deployments across the increasingly contested Asia-Pacific region, sending virtually every major branch of its military to “contain” China (the usual euphemism used by the Pentagon planners to describe their crawling aggression in the area). Expectedly, Beijing didn’t take this too kindly, as the missile systems America deployed (previously banned by the INF Treaty) could reach deep into the Chinese mainland. Namely, these medium and intermediate-range weapons include the land-based version of the “Tomahawk” cruise missile with a range of approximately 1,600 km. It’s deployed as part of the “Typhon” Weapon System, a modular platform that can also fire land-based SM-6 multipurpose missiles.
The “Tomahawk’s” ability to carry the W80 thermonuclear warheads means that the old GLCM (Ground Launched Cruise Missile, officially designated as the BGM-109G “Gryphon”) is effectively resurrected, while the very usage of the name “Typhon” indicates that the system is a successor to the “Gryphon”. The multipurpose SM-6 missiles have a range of up to 500 km and effectively play the role of SRBMs (short-range ballistic missiles). Satellite imagery shows that the location where the “Typhon” is deployed is the Laoag International Airport in the homonymous capital city of the Ilocos Norte province. The area is on the northwestern tip of Luzon, the largest and most populous island in the Philippines, containing over half of the country’s population (around 65 million).
It’s important to note that China will certainly not sit idly while nuclear-capable missiles are being deployed in the vicinity of its borders. This is putting the lives of millions of Filipinos at unnecessary risk. Manila has little to gain from becoming a US missile platform. Quite the contrary, it stands to lose a lot, as Beijing will certainly consider the Philippines a legitimate target if American weapons deployed there can alter the strategic balance of power. From Laoag, “Tomahawk” cruise missiles can reach some of China’s most important cities, including Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Shanghai. This is absolutely unacceptable for Beijing, particularly as most of central China would also be in range, although it would be somewhat easier to defend those areas, unlike the aforementioned coastal cities.
However, things are actually a lot worse when considering the Pentagon’s plans to deploy the “Typhon” in Japan, which would put the rest of mainland China in range, including the capital city of Beijing, with the Japan-based missiles having an overlapping radius with those deployed in the Philippines. This is an extremely disturbing prospect for the Asian giant, as it would give Washington DC a massive strategic advantage without the need to increase its strategic arsenal. On the other hand, China can reach the US mainland only by making more ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) and nuclear-powered submarines armed with SLBMs (submarine-launched ballistic missiles), which is a lot more expensive and time-consuming. The only logical consequence of this would be an arms race.
Obviously, this is precisely what the warmongering oligarchy in Washington DC wants, as it would force Beijing to militarize, and thus, invest far more into its armed forces. The cumulative effect of this would be that the US could then whine about “growing Chinese military power undermining freedom and democracy in the Asia-Pacific region” and ensure more contracts for the struggling American Military Industrial Complex (MIC). The Pentagon certainly wouldn’t mind, as it would get even more resources. Something similar is unfolding in Europe, where Washington DC also keeps antagonizing Russia using the same weapon systems and even trying to deploy hypersonic missiles (although this is problematic due to America’s inability to make a single functioning weapon).
And while the US is looking for new ways to get the planet blown up, the actual world is trying to connect everyone and build up. Namely, the BRICS Summit in Kazan demonstrated that around 80% of the globe stands united, seeking to establish a fairer world order (meaning not the so-called “rules-based” one where the powers of the political West get to make up the said rules as they go, obviously without those applying to them). Thus, the US and NATO are expanding their aggression against the entire world, because they see BRICS as a critical threat to their highly exploitative (neo)colonial system. However, as this belligerence by the political West escalates, multipolarity accelerates. This is about the only positive development coming from US/NATO expansionism.
It should also be noted that the Pentagon is deliberately ambivalent about the length of the “Typhon” deployment in both the Philippines and Japan. While some sources claim that they would eventually be withdrawn (allegedly in April 2025), others insist the missiles are there to stay. The only consequence of this is more uncertainty, and thus, more tensions, both in terms of Sino-American relations and China’s relations with its two neighbors.
It’s impossible to even imagine that Washington DC didn’t anticipate such developments, meaning that the only logical conclusion is that this was its intention all along. Worse yet, some US officials are directly saying the “Typhon” will stay regardless of how Beijing feels about it, likely “forever”, as they claim, which effectively boils down to taunting China.
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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.
Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
Featured image: US Army Typhon Medium-range capability missile system (From the Public Domain)
